Could Southampton, New Forest and Eastleigh councils merge?

In December, the government announced that it wants all remaining two-tier areas in England to be eventually restructured into single-tier unitary authorities.

According to the leader of Southampton City Council, Cllr Lorna Fielker, the government have asked councils in the Hampshire and Solent region to work together to develop unitary proposals ‘that are in the best interests of the whole area.’

Cllr Lorna Fielker (Image: NQ) The Labour councillor continued: “These discussions have not yet started, any proposals put forward at this time are purely speculative.

“Devolution offers Hampshire and the Solent region new opportunities for economic growth, as well as improved prosperity for Hampshire and Solent places and residents through investment in skills, housing, infrastructure, and transport.”

However, the potential of a merge between SCC, NFDC and EBC has been met with scrutiny by other councillors. Cllr Jeremy Moulton (Image: NQ) Conservative councillor for Millbrook, Jeremy Moulton, said: “The New Forest and city of Southampton have very different needs and forcing them together without local support does little to improve democracy.

“This top-down reorganisation by the Labour government may well end up costing a considerable amount of money and distracting from the important business of delivering local services.”

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Lib Dem New Forest Councillor, David Harrison said that he thought it was ‘completely mad’ that the public had not been consulted on the merger.

Cllr David Harrison (Image: NQ) He continued: “In all this haste, nobody is asking what the public or even the employees think of such a change.

“There seems to be no prospect of a referendum or public consultation which is completely mad, given that we have a hundred or more consultations on a variety of far less important matters.”

A potential merge between the three councils has not yet been confirmed but Cllr Harrison added it was the ‘most likely’ option.

Conservative councillor at Eastleigh Borough Council, Steve Broomfield, said councillors must put personal feelings aside in order to create a successful new unitary council.

Cllr Steve Broomfield (Image: NQ) He continued: “It's clear the central government is setting a very tight deadline for councils to work to.

“I understand that discussions are proceeding smoothly, and the important thing is that councillors must focus on putting personal feelings to one side and concentrate on making sure any new authority works for the people it's elected to serve.”